obama won the white house. but gays and lesbians lost the right to marry in california. >> we try to figure out what to do next. then we thought about the idea of a possible legal challenge to proposition eight. and serendipitously a friend of my wife's came by the table. >> reporter: the friend suggested they would find an ally in her former brother-in-law, who turned out to be ted olson, a towering figure in the conservative legal movement. so that stunned you, right? >> yes, more than stunned me. it stunned me, but i said if this is true, this is the home run of all times. i mean, the idea that ted olson, this arch conservative, the solicitor general for george bush, who had argued bush v. gore, and basically put me in bed for a couple of days, i was so depressed after bush v. gore, was interested in gay rights. i thought, let's check it out. >> reporter: didn't you have any doubts about ted olson? >> you know, they say that politics makes strange bedfellows. well, you don't have a stranger bedfellow than me